A primary objective of taxidermy is to prepare, stuff and mount the skins of animals so that they appear to be life-like. The mounting of an eye in the head a taxidermic model is especially important. Because the head and eyes are often the primary focus of the viewer, if the eyes are not mounted properly, the finished product will not appear life-like.
Mounting eyes in an animal such as a fish is particularly troublesome because the head of the animal is essentially hollowed out in the mounting process. A current known method of mounting eyes in a fish head is time consuming and does not readily provide for a life-like setting. By this current method, putty is placed in the eye opening of the hollowed-out fish head. An artificial fish eye is then placed in the opening and pushed into the putty. Additional putty is filled in around the eye to resemble the eye lid and eye membrane. The area around the fish eye, or the entire fish, is then painted. As a last step, excess paint must be removed from the fish eye ball. The location of the eye ball in the putty and the scraped, painted putty often do not give the life-like appearance which is desired. Thus, it can be appreciated that it would desirable to have a method for mounting eyes in an animal skin such as a fish which would be quick, efficient, and result in a life-like appearance.